Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
Hide Quotations Hide Etymology
About this entry:
First published 1956 (SND Vol. IV). Includes material from the 2005 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1724-1772, 1832-1947
[0,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,0,0,0,0,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,0,0,0,0]
FADGE, n. Also fodge (Rxb. 1802 J. Sibbald Chron. Sc. Poetry, Gl.).
1. A round thick cake or loaf of flour baked with yeast in an oven (Lth. 1808 Jam.; Bwk., Rxb., Slk. 1950); formerly of barley meal, baked in the ashes of a fire (Sibbald). Dim. fadgie, fadgy. Used also attrib. in fadge banna, fadgy banna (Rxb. 1923 Watson W.-B.). Hence deriv. fadgel.Sc. 1724 Ramsay T.T. Misc. (1733) 91:
And there will be fadges and brachen, With fouth of good gabbocks of skate.Edb. 1772 R. Fergusson Poems (1925) 70:
I'll ay be vockie To part a fadge or girdle farl.Slk. 1832 Hogg Queer Book 132:
A fadge o' the flour sae sma'.Bwk. 1845 Stat. Acc.2 II. 77:
Cakes are also very generally used of barley meal, baked to a great thickness and called fadges.Ayr. a.1851 A. Aitken Poems (1873) 97:
Hae ye seen the big fires, or the braid baking girdle, Or tasted the mistress' thick fadgel scones?Abd. 1868 W. Shelley Wayside Flowers 186:
I'm tauld by our neebors wha bide down the stair That fadges and fairls will be gaen right and left.Dmf. 1915 D. J. Beattie Oor Gate-en' 26:
Instead o' the coorse “fadgie” an' the barley banna bein' predominant on the bakin'-board.Cai. 1932 A. D. Miller Cai. Words and Phrases:
Fadge, a baked cake of bread, about two inches thick, round in shape and having a circumference of about twenty-four inches. It is leavened bread of barley meal or of flour meal. The fadge was baked in some districts of Caithness as late as 1865 A.D.
2. In Uls., a kind of scone made from a mixture of potatoes and oatmeal, baked on a griddle (Uls. 1880 Patterson Gl.); potato cake or bread (Uls. 1970s).Uls. 1894 W. Wright Brontes in Ireland 222:
Then there was fadge, made of the potatoes remaining over from the dinner and oatmeal mashed up well together, and rolled out in thick cakes.Uls. 1922 S. S. McCurry Ballads of Ballytumulty 33:
“Baked” bread she made of any kin', From pirta thing to fadge.Uls. 1947 J. M. Mogey Rural Life 233:
Fadge: Potato bread in Co. Antrim. A Large Scone, with raisins or other fruit added, baked in an oven-pot in Co. Fermanagh.
You may wish to vary the format shown below depending on the citation style used.
"Fadge n.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 19 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/fadge_n>
